They're not messing around this season, and I love it. I didn't have any major complaints through the first two episodes anyway, but there wasn't a single scene that dragged or felt in any way unnecessary this week.

Good to see Dany seeing reason and backing off the "bend the knee" attitude, at least a little. Not sure about Jon's choice not to discuss the mutiny and resurrection though. It's a good counter to all her proclamations of destiny and whatnot. As much as I want to see Cersei defeated, I found myself enjoying her revenge against the Sand Snakes.

another great episode with 2 more meetings i have been waiting years for. so glad jon didnt just give in and i loved his lack of an introduction. while dany is hellbent on playing queen jon justs wants to save everyone.

Tyrion is arguably the smartest man in Westeros but the recent episode showed he's still no experienced military tactician (Battle of Blackwater was home court advantage, almost lost it too).Euron, cutting off the Unsullied Army from returning to Dragonstone, maybe even capturing or killing them all if they don't abandon Casterly Rock. Jamie removing another Daenerys' ally, the Tyrell's, to control that family's resources to supply the Lannister army to siege Dragonstone or Winterfell.

All that's left are the 3 dragons, the Dothraki army, and the North but their king is playing minecraft at south beach.

lol at that nod to GoT fan girls with Tyrion seeing a brooding Jon Snow on the cliff.

Apparently, HBO has been hacked. One reddit user's post history contains a leak to the full season 7 script (I did not verify). He's 100% right so far per comments. Damn, I don't want to be spoiled in any way.

jenz wrote:Apparently, HBO has been hacked. One reddit user's post history contains a leak to the full season 7 script (I did not verify). He's 100% right so far per comments. Damn, I don't want to be spoiled in any way.

I started to dislike Dany in season 5, but her ego has grown on another level. Nobody is bending a knee to you with that attitude. Right now I can't support anyone aiming for the throne. I guess Jaime would be my choice since John I would not like seeing John sit on it.

Andrew wrote:I'll give Isaac Hempstead Wright the benefit of the doubt here, and say that it's the character, so more so the writing/direction rather than his abilities. On that note, though, I completely agree.

"I was mentored by the Three Eyed Raven, who died, and now I am the Three Eyed Raven. I can see into the past, among other things. For example..."

I mean, it could be difficult to believe, but the explanation itself can be made quite simple.

The writing for the character is very poor, but even the acting of the reunion. The dead "Hello Sansa". Nothing is going to drive me crazier than when the entire Game of Thrones boils down to Bran and Sam being the key components to defeating the army of the undead, while Jon, Tyrion, Dany, et al are meaningless pawns.

Also is your friend really your friend if you can't ask them if their sister likes a finger up her bum?

bigh0rt wrote:Bran Stark remains the absolute worst character/actor in the show. It pains me feeling like he'll be such an integral part of the conclusion of the show. He's ass.

I found myself screaming to the TV "Then freaking explain it" every time he told Sansa it was complicated.

my problem was to prove he is all knowing he brings up her rape and tells her how pretty she looked just before being raped. he could have said anything else but fuck it lets talk about the first night you were raped.

bigh0rt wrote:The writing for the character is very poor, but even the acting of the reunion. The dead "Hello Sansa". Nothing is going to drive me crazier than when the entire Game of Thrones boils down to Bran and Sam being the key components to defeating the army of the undead, while Jon, Tyrion, Dany, et al are meaningless pawns.

Also is your friend really your friend if you can't ask them if their sister likes a finger up her bum?

Possibly, but that still strikes me as being the writing and direction as much as anything else. They seem to want Bran to be creepily emotionless and monotone, for whatever reason. He's not being given great material to work with, so at the very least, I think it's difficult to say how good of an actor he is. It's frustrating either way, though.

Euron Greyjoy has been great this season. He's an enjoyable over the top villain: unhinged but still brilliant, crude but undeniably witty.

jenz wrote:Bran not explaining to Sansa wtf he's talking about is one of the worst TV tropes.

Euron is brilliant, he's got a Joker vibe. He deserves a glorious death. I'm guessing death by Reek.

I may be the only person who doesn't want to see Reek vindication. I'm done with Theon. Need him to just die. Euron deserves a much more glorious death. He's been an absolute rock star this season so far. Unlike Ramsey, though, he's a villain I find myself liking and rooting for.

Ramsey had very few redeeming qualities, except possibly his diabolical cunning. Euron's committed fewer on-screen atrocities, and has some pretty funny lines. He's a bad guy and I don't want to see him win because he's aligned with Cersei, but I don't think it'll be the same catharsis as it was to see Ramsey gets his comeuppance.

I'm not sure how to feel about Theon. He's a pretty tragic character, and it makes sense that he blue screened like that, but yeah, I don't know where his character goes from here.

Andrew wrote:Ramsey had very few redeeming qualities, except possibly his diabolical cunning. Euron's committed fewer on-screen atrocities, and has some pretty funny lines. He's a bad guy and I don't want to see him win because he's aligned with Cersei, but I don't think it'll be the same catharsis as it was to see Ramsey gets his comeuppance.

I'm not sure how to feel about Theon. He's a pretty tragic character, and it makes sense that he blue screened like that, but yeah, I don't know where his character goes from here.

Agreed. I'm not rooting for Euron to win, per so, but rooting for him to cause a ton of chaos and disarray, as he has through 3 episodes thus far. I love the pacing of the season so far, much like last season.

you know as far as this show goes cersi seems to generally get a pass when talking about just how evil someone is. i actually think (myself included) that people see many of the things she does as justified because someone did whatever to her. joffrey was a horrible monster but people understand why cersi would go bat shit crazy trying to torture anyone involved. out side of season 1 (even then really) almost all the shit she does has something that someone can relate to unlike the other horrible acts in the show. for me stannis remains the worst of the worst in my eyes.

Agreed, it's interesting how Cersei is handled. She is obviously evil, and I don't want to see her win, but there are moments where she's oddly sympathetic. And I think in some ways, you end up admiring, or at least respecting her cunning; especially when you've underestimated her because of the times she has had plans backfire. But when her plans have worked...man, how they've yielded results!

Brienne seemed to confirm that she killed Stannis off-screen, so for now I think it's safe to assume he's dead in the show's canon.

So, seems Dany is becoming more and more like the Mad King, and her followers are well and truly brainwashed...well, maybe.

That was a great fakeout at the ending. Obviously, so many main characters have been killed off, so it looked like one more might be, but yeah, a great fakeout.

We seem to have a bit more of an explanation for Bran's characterisation, too. Seems to be one of those "That man is dead" scenarios, which doesn't necessarily make him a great character, but it gives more reason for his cold detachment and monotone. There's traces of Bran Stark left, but he doesn't feel anymore, he's not quite human anymore. I did enjoy him throwing Littlefinger's "Chaos is a ladder" line back at him, though. Littlefinger's expression was priceless.

not to mention cersei is going to have a serious itch to scratch when news of the lost troops and joffrey's killer get back to her, but somehow i believe they'll all end up banding together to fight the army of the dead and then sort out who sits on the throne

this is probably the best episode of the show yet. i will have to give it a few days and a second watching before i make it my final opinion as i hate jumping to such things right after a viewing but holy shit this episode was fucking amazing start to finish.

the show seems to be making it clear that sansa is getting jealous. everyone of the stark kids were driven from their home and some how they all (the living ones) came back with something unique, something that made them special yet here she is with nothing. she probably had the worst time of them all and came out of it with nothing special at all. i hope they dont play up the jealously angle to a point of her turning on her brothers/sister.

happy to see jon still not bending a knee and i imagine that will not change after this weeks episode. also it was nice to get a reunion i didnt even know i wanted though i wish he would have fucked him up a little bit.

the entire ending of the episode is what makes this so perfect. the reactions were spot on. the looks of "what the fuck is that" and all the "oh shit" moments were spot on. tyrion did so much with just facial expressions and a couple words. jaime not running away. just all of it, perfect

everything with arya was also great. loved watching the sparring match and having sansa realize that when arya said she had a list and most of the people on it were dead that she was the one who killed them. loved the looks from everyone saying "this girl does not need my protection" to little fingers "what the fuck am i going to do about this shit here"

I'll admit that this season is making me feel bad about getting behind Dany, but at the same time, I like that twist. I think the character has done a lot of good things out of genuine motivations to be a good ruler, but that "right to rule" mentality has always been there since she first tasted power; arguably, since her brother ended up wearing that golden crown. It does reinforce the whole "no clear good guys or bad guys" approach, though it does feel like she's jumping off the slippery slope, at least somewhat. Unfortunate, but compelling. Let's see if Tyrion and Varys can reign her in a bit.

I'd say you're on point about Sansa. The thing is, while she doesn't have badass fighting skills, or supernatural powers, she's gained wisdom and cunning when it comes to "playing the game". But as you alluded to, I could see her losing sight of that, and getting jealous. Hopefully, it's more a case of her having a moment of "Wow, everything has changed so much; we're together, but it's not going to be like it was, or how we thought it was". Sophie Turner has said that Sansa is less likeable this season though, so that doesn't bode well.

As soon as I saw the Greyjoy ship sailing in, it dawned on me that there'd be another reunion. Unfortunately for Theon, at this point, Jon Snow does know a thing or two.

i agree with you about sansa, she does have her skills but she she probably thinks no one else sees them. thats where little finger will come in i think and mess everything up. i think her skills are needed, i think its a combination of them all that is needed. you cant just kill everyone like arya, bran sees all but cant do shit about it really, jon has the heart and sansa the brain.

As much as I hate Aidan Gillen creepy-watching-Sansa eyes, he should figure out that Jon will kill him if he ever put his hands on Sansa, Arya is now a very skilled assassin, and Bran is an all-seeing guy. He should leave Winterfell.

Also, why can't just Bran spill the beans already?

Marvelous episode. I thought it would be ruined for me because of the people on my Facebook feed basically admitting to downloading a leaked episode AND spoiling it online. Stay classy, Pinoys.

With Bran, I think the problem is that he's now become too disconnected from his own humanity, as well as the rest of humanity. If he doesn't deem it important or essential, by whatever logic and morality he's going by as the Three Eyed Raven, it's not worth doing. Note how he wasn't interested in the details of the attempts on his life at Winterfell, much less getting revenge.

Bran can see the past, present, and future, or fragments at least. However, he hasn't really told anybody anything important that he's learned like Jon's parentage and, presumably everything Littlefinger did and tons of other stuff we don't know about.

I think he more or less knows how everything will end but can’t tell people because they’d try to change things which would be either futile or disastrous.

Instead everything he says and does, telling Littlefinger “chaos is a ladder” and giving Arya something that can kill White Walkers, is because he already knows the consequences of those actions and, right now, it's his best way of trying to subtly influence the future.

Excellent episode. Top 5 certainly for me. People going overboard calling it the best episode ever, but recency certainly has tremendous bias. I held off and did not watch the leak, and also managed to avoid spoilers, so last night was a treat -- especially the culminating 10 minutes of the episode. A few musings...

Bran still sucks. Nobody has ever deserved to be cripple more than him. You can blah blah me all you want about his importance and the magnitude of his omniscient nature, but his character sucks and is written poorly. The larger a role he assumes in the show, the worse he is. He is arguably the biggest low light of any episode he appears in. As I previously mentioned, all this does is drive me nuts with what I'm sure is his ultimate importance to the show's climax.

I go absolutely bananas any time a character acquires a Valyrian steel weapon. My brain just triggers and I start running wild with how they will ultimately use said weapon to kill a white walker. So, after Arya's cool training sequence with Brienne, seeing her get the dagger was a quiet thrilling moment for me.

I can't imagine how some people believe Jamie is dead. He's obviously not dead. I do wonder what his future holds, though. Maybe he ends up pledging allegiance to Dany and going after Cersei, as many have speculated given the deterioration of Jamie and Cersei's relationship over the last season and a half. He continues to be one of my favorite characters on the show.

The giant crossbow wielded by Bronn (who, by the way, continues to be awesome), turned out to be very underwhelming; especially after its initial reveal going through the dragon skull. I wonder if we'll see an army with dozens of them (part of me thinks we'll ultimately see one of Dany's dragons fall to a head shot from one possibly -- I think I'll be sadder if one of the dragons dies than any other character past, present, or future).

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, CERSEI MENTIONED THE GOLDEN COMPANY — A MERCENARY GROUP THAT'S BEEN REFERENCED IN PASSING BEFORE.Cersei told Tycho Nestoris, the Iron Bank emissary, that Qyburn has made overtures to the Golden Company. This is a group of 10,000 sellsword mercenaries, not unlike the Second Sons led by Daario Naharis that Daenerys enlisted in Essos.They've been mentioned on the show before - once by Davos and Stannis and another time when it was revealed that Jorah spent time with the Golden Company before meeting Daenerys and Viserys.In the books, the Golden Company is rumored to be the most fierce and expensive sellsword company in the Free Cities. If Cersei really does get them on her payroll, that will be a big boost to the now depleted Lannister forces.

bigh0rt wrote:I can't imagine how some people believe Jamie is dead. He's obviously not dead. I do wonder what his future holds, though. Maybe he ends up pledging allegiance to Dany and going after Cersei, as many have speculated given the deterioration of Jamie and Cersei's relationship over the last season and a half. He continues to be one of my favorite characters on the show.

I'm seeing Tyrion convincing Jamie and Bronn join them.

Bran can see the past, present, and future, or fragments at least. However, he hasn't really told anybody anything important that he's learned like Jon's parentage and, presumably everything Littlefinger did and tons of other stuff we don't know about.

I think he more or less knows how everything will end but can’t tell people because they’d try to change things which would be either futile or disastrous.

Instead everything he says and does, telling Littlefinger “chaos is a ladder” and giving Arya something that can kill White Walkers, is because he already knows the consequences of those actions and, right now, it's his best way of trying to subtly influence the future.

I mean, he could bring Littlefinger to justice. But I guess he's no longer Bran now.

Andrew wrote:how he wasn't interested in the details of the attempts on his life at Winterfell, much less getting revenge

Considering he can see everything anywhere anytime with all its possible outcomes, he probably had already seen what led to his assassination attempt it's only natural that he's not interested to rehash the details. Likely he also knows the role that Littlefinger has to play in the future and the way the man would die so revenge isn't that much of a big deal at this point.

bigh0rt wrote:Excellent episode. Top 5 certainly for me. People going overboard calling it the best episode ever, but recency certainly has tremendous bias.

for me it has to do with the entire episode being good. the other big episodes in the past had slow or boring scenes prior to the cool stuff happening. this may not be the best battle they have had but i think its the best episode overall. there is also the 6 year release which is exactly what this episode was.

Aside from a scene here or there, I feel that's basically how Season 7 has been. There's not a lot of stuff that's dragged or felt out of place, give or take a couple of scenes, and they haven't bothered me too much. I've felt bothered by characters, but for the most part, I think it's been the intended reaction, or at least one feasible reaction based on one interpretation/personal bias.